


A Step Forward

by OhLookMoreFanFiction



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bellarke, F/M, JUST KISS ALREADY, bellarke is end game, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 19:05:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11584260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhLookMoreFanFiction/pseuds/OhLookMoreFanFiction
Summary: The delinquents return to Earth, but Bellamy can't face Clarke.





	A Step Forward

Clarke had approached the rocket cautiously when it landed, circling the thicket many times before tiptoeing into the clearing. She flinched when the hatch creaked and fell with a thud to the dirt. A suited figure hopped out, leading with a Geiger Counter. The person stopped immediately when they caught sight of Clarke, who took a step back. The radiation detection device fell into the twigs on the forest floor. The rocket-dweller’s helmet depressurized and uncloaked a bearded face. Clarke’s mouth fell open unconsciously, gaping at the haggard man facing her.

They stared at one another for a long while, not moving or saying anything. The silence was pierced by a voice, crackling from the radio at his hip.

“What do you see, Bell. Is it too soon?”

Clarke knew instantly it was Raven, her lip crooking at the side in an expectant smile. Bellamy seemed to be shaken from a trance. He grappled for the radio and held it in front of him, opening his mouth a few seconds before finding his voice.

“Get everyone out here. You’re gonna wanna see this.”

Thirty agonizing seconds passed, and Bellamy stared. Clarke thought of no less than one million things to say, but all of them were lodged too far down her throat. They were only a few feet from each other, but it felt like miles and years.

Clatter, clatter, bang… and the whole troop emerged. Suit after suit paused in the doorway, saw the blonde hair, and jumped recklessly to the earth. 

Raven sprinted to Clarke, grabbing her and swinging her around.

“Oh my God. You did it!” Raven yelled breathlessly. “You freaking did it!!”

Each hug was joyful and fresh, clumsy and bulky with the material from their space suits. And all the while, Bellamy stood there staring. The last one came from Echo who gave Clarke a short hug and greeted her with a Grounder blessing. The buzzing energy suddenly dampened.

“I’m gonna shut everything off.” Everyone’s eyes scraped to Bellamy, realizing his hug was missing. He glanced around the half circle and then down at his boots as he jumped back through the door and was gone.

The air was heavy, but they all looked back at Clarke with hope and half smiles.

“He’s gonna take a while,” Raven admitted quietly. “Don’t worry – He just needs some time.”

Clarke marveled; the delinquents had aged and yet, they were the same. 

Raven and her smarts. Murphy and his ruthlessness. Monty. Harper. The grounders they brought to the stars. And Madi soaking up the human interaction like a dehydrated sponge. 

So many laughs and so many questions: a never-ending series of inquiries. Back and forth, back and forth, more and more questions were always on tongue’s tip. They invited the mother-daughter duo aboard, giving them blankets and places to sleep. The rocket-dwellers shared their food while Clarke and Madi brought berries, nuts, and two pheasants. They’d talk, grow weary, sleep a while, and reawaken to talk once more. Madi left at one point to harvest a plant that was brewed into a tea. It soothed their sore throats, for they all had talked themselves raw.

Three days later, and they were starting to tell the same stories over again. Normally a social taboo, re-telling and re-hearing the stories left a warm feeling in Clarke’s heart. Madi had taken a shine to Monty instantly, and she always sat on one side of him with Harper on the other. 

Bellamy didn’t speak much. He didn’t add to the stories or laugh when the others did. He corrected a few people if they embellished too much, but it was always toward the storyteller. It was never in Clarke’s direction. She could feel him studying her as she conversed with the others, but his eyes were always somewhere else when she’d sneak a peak at him. 

She couldn’t help but stare at him in the rare event that he was talking to someone else. His eyes had grown wrinkles around the outer edges, and he had obviously abandoned shaving long ago. The scruffy black hair grew in patches on his sharp jawbone and around his lips, exaggerating his facial expressions and hiding the beautiful shape of his face. She started to wonder if that hair was coarser than the soft curls on his head. She could remember what they felt like against her cheek when he held her for the last time. 

She snapped out of her daydream and glanced at him, unaware if she had been staring while she spaced out. Their eyes locked from across the room as Echo talked to Clarke and Madi talked to Bellamy. His lips parted a little as he indulged in the crystal blue of her eyes. They both shook from the moment at the same time, each asking their conversation partners to repeat their last sentence.

The moon hung low in the sky, and they switched the lights in the rocket corridors from “day” to “night”. The softer gleam was welcome on everyone’s tired eyes as one by one, they said “goodnight” and found spaces around the common room to drift off. Madi had fallen asleep hours ago, and Clarke stroked her hair as Harper told her (for the fourth time) about their first night back in space. Harper’s eyelids were visibly heavy, and Clarke finally laid a hand on her forearm.

“Get some sleep. We’ve got tomorrow.” Clarke’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. Harper gave in and melted down onto the floor into a ball to sleep. She was successful in not waking Madi.

Clarke gingerly tugged her arm from beneath Madi’s head, standing and tucking her short hair behind her ears. She turned to maybe find a free blanket and jumped a bit. Bellamy was still sitting in the corner, hunched forward with his elbows on his knees. She thought he had left a while ago. She heard him swallow in the stillness, and he rose up out of the shadows. 

In the three days since they’d been back, he hadn’t taken one step toward her. But he was closing in on her now. The steps were faster than she thought he would take, and before she could inhale, he was close enough for her to see all six years of added age on his face. The bags under his sparkling eyes. The foreboding line that ran across his broad forehead. When had she become afraid of him? When did he get so tall? His arms so bulging? His presence so captivating? His lips sprang apart, but before sound came out, they pursed again. Speech was obviously lost on them.

She didn’t know what she was doing. He felt like a magnet, and before she could stop herself, her fingers had brushed his hand. His fingers jolted the half-inch they needed to escape her touch. But she felt pulled to him. Her fingers found his again, the callouses on their pointer fingers rubbing together. She opened her hand wider, using her small palm to cover the back of his hand. He looked down at it, eyebrows furrowing.

“Bellamy…” She couldn’t help it. She wanted to say his name with him here. He was finally, finally here.

His eyes darted up, looking first at her lips and then at her. He swallowed hard, lightly shaking their hands apart. She let a slightly frustrated breath out through her nose, looking down to hide her disappointment. 

“I lost you.” He said it without sound and almost without breath. A few words mouthed, surrounded by their sleeping friends, on a rocket on a green patch on a planet that had died.

Clarke’s eyebrows furrowed now, meeting his eyes again with worry and sympathy all at once. 

“I was right here the whole time,” she whispered back. He thought she was talking about Earth, but then her hand rose and rested on his chest. “I never left you.”

He exhaled a trapped breath and absolutely surrounded her in a hug. His biceps practically crushed her, pushing the air out of her lungs and mashing her face into his neck. His left hand dragged up her back to press her closer. He re-memorized everything about her: height, shape, softness, scent. It was all stored away for future eternities spent apart. Her small arms gripped his shoulder blades, amazed at how living in space had reduced him to nothing but muscle. She could feel him breathe, his rib cage expanding and lifting her slightly off the ground. 

Murphy snorted in his sleep. They flew apart, unwrapping limbs frantically as if they’d been caught. Murphy rolled over and continued drooling onto his sleeve. Bellamy straightened up, and Clarke tugged her shirt down a little. His eyes were down, scared of the broken ice. She retraced her step forward again, reaching out the same hand to graze his fingers. He gripped them back this time.

And so, on the fourth morning, those sleeping began to wake up. Madi was normally up first, and today, she’d found some edible flowers to add to breakfast. Everyone was impressed with her knowledge of the woods. While in space, Monty had figured out how to make coffee without coffee beans. The rich aroma filled the cabin and woke Clarke from her dreams. 

As was now tradition, they all sat on the common room floor, taking in nourishment and slowly waking up together. Raven sat with a large knife, expertly shelling more walnuts that Madi had brought.

“So we spliced those wires together, and it ended up working. I never thought I’d be working on computers, but it turns out that – “ Emori stopped talking to Clarke, mouth still open as she stared down the hallway. Raven’s eyes bulged as she dropped her knife on the bench.

“Morning…” Bellamy muttered a little sheepishly as he grabbed a mug of coffee and leaned against a wall. Clarke turned from Emori, and her mouth fell open too. 

He had shaved.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr: @teambingewatch  
> Thanks so much for reading!  
> Please leave constructive criticism if you have it!


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